Islamabad, Jan 9: A polio vaccination certificate has been made mandatory for Pakistani citizens travelling to Saudi Arabia, the kingdom's civil aviation authority has announced.
According to Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), anyone found violating the latest directives would face severe penalties and legal action.
Pakistan, along with Afghanistan, remains one of the last two polio-endemic countries in the world. The country has experienced a concerning surge in poliovirus cases, with 68 instances of the crippling disease reported in 2024.
Over the years, questions have been raised over the Pakistan government's continued failure to handle the spread of polio virus in the country, especially in the troubled provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan which have seen rejection of polio vaccination campaigns and even casualties for health workers.
The Saudi government's decision comes at a time when several Gulf countries have imposed a visa ban on Pakistanis over their involvement in crime, fraud and begging.
On Wednesday, as many as 51 deported Pakistanis landed in Karachi from seven countries, while 30 passengers were offloaded from international flights at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport on Tuesday night due to issues with their travel documents and other irregularities, officials from the immigration department told Geo News.
Earlier, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had made it mandatory for visa applicants from Pakistan to submit a police character certificate.
Besides Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Gulf nations have imposed an indefinite ban on granting visas to people from at least 30 different cities of Pakistan, following an alarming rise in number of cases where Pakistani nationals have been caught begging or being involved in smuggling, drug trafficking, human trafficking and other criminal offences abroad.
Gulf countries and cities, especially Dubai and Abu Dhabi, remain the most preferred destinations for millions of Pakistani travellers and job seekers.
However, following the ban and increasing visa rejections, the already dented image of Pakistani passport - ranked fourth worst in the world for the third consecutive year - suffered further irreparable damage.
A prominent Pakistani YouTuber had last month acknowledged the difficulties being faced by travellers from the country after the Gulf countries stopped granting visas to Pakistani nationals.
"Saudi Arabia and Dubai were popular destinations but have now stopped giving visas. I too had to face a great difficulty when I wanted to go for the IIFA Awards. In fact, Saudi Arabia has given a warning to Pakistan with regard to the increasing number of cases of beggars being caught," admitted noted podcaster Nadir Ali in an interview with a businessman who owns a large travel company in Karachi.
Over the years, Pakistan has maintained unrelenting consistency in sending questionable travellers abroad - those who end up staying illegally in foreign countries by becoming asylum seekers, illegal drug traffickers, beggars and human traffickers.
"Since last year, we have witnessed hundreds of cases where labour visas, visit visas and even tourist visas have been declined for Pakistanis by the Gulf countries. The number of rejections is especially high for those people who do not hail from major cities of the country," Muddasar Mir, Managing Director of Vinci Tours and Travels in Islamabad, told IANS.
"There are many reasons behind Gulf countries rejecting Pakistani visa applications. The major one is of beggars and drug smugglers, who have been caught after arriving in the Gulf countries on either visit or job visas. Several Pakistanis have also been caught transporting drugs to the Gulf countries. Recruiting companies, especially those involved in sending labourers to the Gulf countries, are also using fake documents and experience letters. They bribe agencies and manage to get through," he added.
Several companies in the Gulf have complained to their recruiters in Pakistan that the workforce being transported fails to meet even the basic requirements of the specified job descriptions, leading to serious issues.
"Companies in the Gulf do not want to hire any labourer or technician from Pakistan now because they know that the workforce from Pakistan will turn out to be incompetent. They have found a better option to hire people from countries like India, Bangladesh and Indonesia who are easier to manage," says Mir.
Statistics reveal that over 800,000 Pakistanis apply for visas to Gulf and Middle Eastern countries every year in pursuit of work, job opportunities and use their destination as a stepping stone towards travelling to western and European nations.
In the past, over 4000 Pakistani beggars have been arrested in Saudi Arabia, especially from Mecca and Madina where they were caught begging during Umrah and Haj processions. Many Pakistanis have also been caught carrying illegal drugs and for their involvement in illegal activities.
This has ultimately resulted in severe restrictions and bans being imposed by many countries on Pakistani passports and the country's citizens, leading to rejections of visas for thousands of travellers.
